Analysis of the emission bands of the CN molecules in the plasma generated from
a graphite target irradiated with 1-06/~m radiation pulses from a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser has
been done. Depending on the position of the sampled volume of the plasma plume, the intensity
distribution in the emission spectra is found to change drastically. The vibrational temperature
and population distribution in the different vibrational levels have been studied as function of
distance from the target for different time delays with respect to the incidence of the laser pulse.
The translational temperature calculated from time of flight is found to be higher than the
observed vibrational temperature for CN molecules and the reason for this is explained.